Support for VVol replication is here – with our recent announcement of 3PAR OS 3.3.1 which includes support for VVol replication and adds iSCSI as a supported protocol to use with VMware VVols.

A few months ago I wrote about the VMware vSphere 6.5 announcement and highlighted some of the new storage features included in that release. The big one for me was the release of VASA 3.0 (VVols 2.0) which introduces support for array based replication of VMware VVols. While 3PAR StoreServ supported vSphere 6.5 on day 1 of its release, we weren’t quite ready to support VVol replication at that time. That all changes with our recent announcement of 3PAR OS 3.3.1 which includes support for VVol replication and adds iSCSI as a supported protocol to use with VMware VVols.

New 3PAR VVol replication

The ability to replicate VVols provides users with array-based BC/DR capabilities that can be managed via VMware’s Storage Policy Based Management (SPBM) system that is built into vSphere. vSphere Storage Policies can be built with Replication components that define target 3PAR StoreServ arrays and CPGs for replication as well as a target RPO in minutes as shown in the figure below.

Storage Policies with replication can then be assigned to individual VMs which automatically creates vSphere Replication Groups that are linked to 3PAR StoreServ Remote Copy groups. Once VVol replication is implemented, orchestration of failover and failback from a primary site to a secondary site can be achieved using VMware’s newly enhanced PowerCLI cmdlets that now support VVol replication operations.

New iSCSI protocol support

HPE has worked closely with VMware for years on VVols development as a design partner and 3PAR StoreServ has long been VMware’s Fiber Channel reference platform for VVols development. The addition of iSCSI support in 3PAR OS 3.3.1 provides users a choice of protocols to use with VVols and gain the benefits of VVols, no matter which block protocol you choose.

New VVol views and information in the 3PAR SSMC

Some additional enhancements for VVols were included in our HPE 3PAR StoreServe Management Console (SSMC) 3.0 which was released in November. Prior to that release much of the array based management of VVols was done using 3PAR CLI commands and VVol information was hidden from the SSMC. With the SSMC 3.0 release we added VVol visibility into the SSMC interface so a storage admin can easily view information on VVols and manage VVol Storage Containers as shown in the figure below.We’ve added several VVols specific views to the SSMC which display VVol information such as:

VM name & ID

VVol state (Bound/unbound)

VVol type (config, data, swap, etc.)

VVol CPG, provisioning (i.e. thin) and logical/physical size

Which host is binding to VVols

# of VVols and snapshots a VM has

Remote Copy groups and role

Remote Copy status and last sync time

Remote Copy target Storage Container & CPG

All of these enhancements combine to provide an exceptional experience for anyone wanting to use VMware VVols on 3PAR StoreServ arrays. At HPE we have put a ton of engineering effort over the last 6 years into supporting VVols on 3PAR StoreServ and we are proud to have a very mature and robust VVol solution. Right now 3PAR StoreServ is only 1 of 2 vendors that support VVols replication which is a testament to our commitment to VVols and the hard work of our 3PAR StoreServ VVol engineering team.

Want to learn more about VVols? I’ll come to you!

I’d be happy to come to your city and do a technical deep dive presentation on VVols at one of your local VMUG meetings. Contact your local VMUG leader and have them reach out to me and I will work with them to set this up, I have several cities lined up for this already and would love to do more. Also be sure and read through our 3PAR/VVol Implementation Guide technical paper, we have an additional paper coming soon focused just on VVol replication. In addition you can watch a recording of my VMworld 2016 session on VVols which provides a complete overview of VVols on 3PAR.

@Ivar73 - there isn't an update. It is on our roadmap but getting synchronous replication and then Peer Persistence to work with VVols won't be an easy task. We don't publicly communicate our roadmap but I don't expect this to be something we'll have in the near-term.